Many shortcomings in basic construction investment management

(Baonghean) -Managing basic construction investment is one of the important tasks of all levels and sectors so that budget capital is used effectively. However, in recent times, many projects have shown investment waste due to unfinished construction and slow progress...

For the past three or four years, the people of Nghia Hanh and Phu Son - Tan Ky have been miserable with the road connecting Ho Chi Minh road through Nghia Hanh to the remote commune of Phu Son in Tan Ky district. Due to unfinished construction, during the rainy season, the road becomes a bag of mud, making it very difficult for the people here to sell their cassava and sugarcane.

It is known that this route is 18km long with a total investment of 117 billion VND from government bonds. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh - Tan Ky said: "The road has not been accepted yet but has to be rebuilt. The section through Hamlet 11 Nghia Hanh was completed, but it was completely damaged. Recently, near the District People's Council meeting, people complained and the contractor had to come out and pour another layer of asphalt on top." Mai Dau Bridge on the unfinished construction route has only two pillars. Workers and machinery are nowhere to be seen. Mr. Ba - Hamlet 12, Nghia Hanh was upset: "We are professional sugarcane growers, but the road is so difficult to travel, we have to hire sugarcane transporters to get here many times, because cars cannot enter, so the profit is not much left. I hope the State will quickly build the road, because this situation will be unbearable when the rainy season comes."



Khe Dau Bridge on the Nghia Hanh - Phu Son (Tan Ky) route is under construction.

As for the 72m road passing through Ha Huy Tap ward (Vinh city), due to land clearance and lack of capital, the road under construction has now become a pond for water hyacinth to grow. Ms. Huong and Ms. Tuyet from hamlet 17, Nghi Phu lamented: "The province and the city have come many times but there is still no progress. The houses of many households are now damaged, but they cannot walk or live in them."

In fact, in recent times, despite many efforts in the management of construction investment, there are still shortcomings. Nghe An's 2013 construction investment plan with a total investment capital from the State budget of 2,726.269 billion VND. In the first 6 months of 2013, the estimated total value of the implemented volume was 1,388.6 billion VND, the disbursement value was 975.8 billion VND, reaching 45.11% of the 2013 plan. Construction capital was allocated early, and efforts were made in disbursement, but the investment efficiency was not high.

In addition to the scattered investment and lack of capital, the work of compensation and site clearance also encountered many difficulties because a part of the people did not fully understand the purpose and importance of construction investment. Meanwhile, local authorities and Party committees delegated the entire responsibility to investors, lacking coordination in raising awareness among the people, leading to some projects being behind schedule.

At the recent meeting of the Provincial People's Council (July 2013), the Council's Economic and Budget Committee frankly pointed out the limitations in the management of construction investment. That is: "The new regulations on construction investment are strongly decentralizing to investors while the capacity of many investors and project management boards is still limited, especially investors, management boards at the commune level and some departments, branches and sectors. Therefore, many projects and contractors carry out all the procedures and documents, from making estimates, estimating prices to finalizing the project to legalize the documents without strict control. There are even many contractors who create fake volume documents to make capital advances."

In addition, the situation of construction consulting and design consulting units growing more and more but their capacity has not been assessed and has not met the requirements has affected the progress of project investment preparation and final settlement of investment capital. The lack of objectivity and transparency in the selection of contractors by investors has affected the quality and progress of construction projects.

Regarding the issue of community supervision of projects in mountainous areas, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Tuan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghia Hanh Commune (Tan Ky) shared: "Community supervision is not effective because of lack of technical knowledge. Besides, there is no system for community supervision, so the activities lack enthusiasm. The distinction between the functions of the investor's supervision board and community supervision is not clear, so the effectiveness is not high."

Currently, there are too many unfinished projects, with progress extended many times due to lack of capital, causing great loss and waste, such as: Chau Thon - Tan Xuan Road, with progress extended many times, lasting more than 3 years, currently unfinished, resettlement areas in Ky Son, Con Cuong, dozens of school consolidation projects in districts. Even in Tan Ky district, in 2013, there were 12 unfinished school consolidation projects...

The Budget Committee's report also pointed out: "Current capital management is not effective. The province borrowed 1,000 billion VND from the Development Bank and the State Treasury, but very little was used, partly because it was used to roll over debt. The remaining capital from 2012 to 2013 was 337 billion VND, but only 137 billion VND was disbursed, reaching 51% of the plan. In particular, some government bond projects have large capital but have not been able to complete disbursement procedures."

It can be said that the above shortcomings in investment in construction are not new but seem to be "multiplied" in the current situation.

Pearl